[Canvas Data] Don't show undated assignments in the last grading period

[MattHanes]

The current intended behavior of Canvas is to show undated assignments as existing in the final grading period of the year. This was a surprise to many K-12 teachers when their Q4 grading period started as all undated assignments were now showing in their gradebook and on the student grades screen. Given the large number of assignments found in a K-12 course, this can really clutter up the screen. While this is the intended behavior of Canvas, I would not describe it as the expected behavior from the point of view of teachers and students. 

This can be mitigated by Instructure in one of the following ways, or they can come up with a creative solution of their own:

1. Only show undated assignments when the "All Grading Periods" filter is selected. The downside is that teachers may be unclear about how those assignments are calculated into the Final average for the course. I would recommend adding an additional course setting to allow teachers to remove assignments without due dates from the Final calculation.
2. Provide users with a way to change undated assignments to "Not Graded" in bulk so that they are removed from the gradebook view.
3. Establish a new account setting that makes due dates required for all assignments that are not marked as "Not Graded". A tooltip that reminds teachers that they can set the assignment to "not graded" to avoid putting in a due date would be great if the teacher tries to create the assignment without a due date.

[e040147]

Agree with all 3 solutions recommended.  End-of-year grade calculations become a nightmare because of these assignments that have entered "the place where are all undated assignments go to die". Teachers have no idea what nine weeks these assignments were a part of.  

[GabriellaAbrams]

These solutions would be VERY helpful. Going back and changing each assignment setting would take hours to complete. A way to exclude non-dated assignments from the grade book would be essential. 

[JacquelineWiley]

This is very much needed. 

Re: the 'Not graded' selection for assignments, one cannot do this on the Quizzes feature. There is no 'not graded' in the drop down. 

I and many of my colleagues use the Quizzes feature for activities that are not 'quizzes' but use it because of the variety  in format (stimulis, mutliple choie, etc). 

Also, I would not want for my students to see all of these assignments with a due date as it clogs up their view and make sit difficult to separate the assignments/quizzes the teacher is using as part of the grade calc. 

I wonder if there could also be a setting that Canvas can add (a box to check?) in which any assignment without a due date does not show up in Grades tab for either teacher or student.

[WendyG3]

I agree that this is a problem.  A setting in which any assignment without a due date does not show up in the Grades tab for either teacher or student would be a great solution.

[MariaMellace]

@Stefanie  Community Team

@JacquelineWiley 

I agree emphatically that this is a huge issue which has not been clearly thought through!  Teachers who are actively using the gradebook feature on Canvas are left with an unmanageable amount of assignments to sift through and it is virtually impossible to actually calculate an average when all assignments (even ones assigned and created during other quarters) are automatically filtering into the quarter 4 gradebook.  It is clear that an educator did not write the code for this particular program feature.  As educators, we know that often times we assign in-class work, whether it be a do-now or a fast assignment to check for understanding, and we DO NOT wish this assignment to be graded/count towards the average.  By defaulting to display all assignments undated in quarter 4, we are unable to have the autonomy to select, A: what assignments we wish to count towards the average and B: get a clear picture of a students' assessment performance for the quarter (which is essential when completing progress reports and communicating with parents). It also becomes onerous for students to understand what quarterly assignments contribute to their average, how they are performing, and what work they may need to make up. 

I would be remiss to not bring up the fact that Canvas also suffers from an issue of the need to assign a point value to all assignments, even ones which we deem "Complete/Incomplete".  In forcing us to assign a point value to complete/incomplete assignments, it creates additional problems when attempting to calculate the final average.  

I should also mention that I think this process of commenting/voting to make a change on the Canvas platform is completely absurd.  When a real-life teacher/district provides Canvas with feedback, changes should simply be made, provided that the district has come to a consensus that this is an issue. This process in and of itself, shows that those in charge of making changes at Canvas have no grasp on the day-to-day reality of teachers right now and what our constant demands are.  Please make this process simpler and support your teachers and your districts paying exorbitant amounts of money to use your LMS platform. 

These are practical issues which real teachers who are in the classroom, using the technology, face every day.  Please remediate them at once so that we can fully take advantage of all features that Canvas has to offer and wholly embrace the technology. 

[115152380937587]

I concur with the solutions suggested above and agree that assignments without a due date should not default to the Quarter 4 gradebook. 

[ArletteSiffer]

I concur with the solutions suggested above and agree that assignments without a due date should not default to the Quarter 4 gradebook.